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RBK852 - iPhone occasionally losing connection
I've observed some strange behaviour with my Orbi system (RBR850, one wired satellite, one wireless satellite) and my iPhone 13 mini.
Periodically (maybe once a week or so) the phone will lose its connection to the network and drop back to a 4G signal. When this happens, if I go into the Wifi Settings on the phone, it will show as trying to connect to the network but with an infinite spinning circle, i.e. it is trying to connect but for some reason is unable to do so. No matter how long I leave it, it will not connect.
Turning the phone's Wifi off and on again doesn't fix the problem, nor does rebooting the phone. However if I "forget" the network and re-add it, the phone connects again immediately.
Afterwards, if I go into the Orbi monitoring page and find this device, it is no longer shown as "Apple iPhone" (as it is after a fresh Orbi boot) but instead has the name DEV-66:A9:A5, and a "generic network device" symbol. I can manually rename it back to an iPhone, but the next time this problem occurs it reverts to the DEV-66 name.
This problem doesn't affect any other devices that I am aware of - just my iPhone. There's no issue with the router or satellites when this problem occurs (i.e. other devices continue to function normally throughout). I can't manually recreate the issue and it seems to happen at random. I've observed this behaviour on the current firmware 4.6.8.2 as well as previous firmware versions.
It's more of an inconvenience really but it is persistent behaviour and seems odd. Anybody else experienced this?
Hi There,
What is your iOS?
Apple in iOS 16 introduce a lot of Wi-Fi problems according to forums. One of the main ones discuss was that iPhone is connected to the network but it is choosing to use Cellular data over Wi-Fi if it thinks data is better than Wi-Fi. Apple improved this but there will be occasions where is still choses cellular data over Wi-Fi.
Now currently there appears to be a bug where it appears that the iPhone is taking forever to connect to the network but when you leave the settings tab and come back it is connected but top corner shows it is still using cellular data.
Please check this out: (1) iOS 16.4.1 (a) WiFi issues : ios (reddit.com)
7 Replies
What happens if you disable any of these on the iPhone?
Thanks. I had all three of those active so I have disabled them all and will see if the problem recurs. It's an occasional problem so it may be a while before I can really tell if it's fixed.
I think you might be onto something though - looking at the device in the Orbi dashboard, it has immediately reverted to its proper name.
Ya, Apples WiFi Private Address is the main cause for that one.
Hi There,
What is your iOS?
Apple in iOS 16 introduce a lot of Wi-Fi problems according to forums. One of the main ones discuss was that iPhone is connected to the network but it is choosing to use Cellular data over Wi-Fi if it thinks data is better than Wi-Fi. Apple improved this but there will be occasions where is still choses cellular data over Wi-Fi.
Now currently there appears to be a bug where it appears that the iPhone is taking forever to connect to the network but when you leave the settings tab and come back it is connected but top corner shows it is still using cellular data.
Please check this out: (1) iOS 16.4.1 (a) WiFi issues : ios (reddit.com)
Though I've not had the 8 series online in a bit, my iphone 12 Pro Max is on 16.4.1 as of last month and has been working well with 9 series Orbi and other routers i've been testing. I haven't see this delay in connecting. I did have problems on prior iOS version I had loaded. I'd have to pull up an bug report to remember what I had in regards to speeds I was seeing on that version of iOS was bad. After I updated to 16.4.1, speeds are back to spec and phone connections are fine.
Another item those reddit user should check is the WiFI Private IP address feature on Apple devices. This has been causing problems since Apple pushed this feature. Its enabled by default and though for securiy reason is good to have, realistically, is not needed while at home on the home network. Travelling of course it should be enabled. I don't have this enabled on any of my devices while at home so I don't encounter odd issues. Something both Apple and Android users should be ware of. I believe our user here in this thread is aware.
